The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), through its constituent laboratory, the Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology (CSIR-IMMT), Bhubaneswar has signed a research and development agreement with Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, to investigate the recovery of titanium dioxide from titanium minerals and vanadium-bearing titanium minerals of Indian origin. The project was launched today with the exchange of signed project agreements by CSIR-IMMT and CSIRO at the Dr R.P. Das Centre for Hydro, Bio & Electrometallurgy, CSIR-IMMT. Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Ramanuj Narayan, Director, CSIR-IMMT, Bhubaneswar laid emphasis on more such collaborative projects on critical minerals in line with the National Critical Mineral Mission (NCMM) of the Government for ensuring a long term sustainable supply of critical minerals including beneficiation, processing and recovery from end-of-life products.

The project collaboration will be led by CSIRO’s Dr. Goutam Kumar Das, Principal Research Scientist, and Dr. Kali Sanjay, Chief Scientist and Head of the Hydro, Bio, and Electrometallurgy Department at CSIR IMMT.

Coordination will be managed by Dr. Joanne Loh, Group Leader – Critical Minerals Processing at CSIRO, and Dr. Ramanuj Narayan, Director of CSIR IMMT.

This joint project aims to develop further CSIRO’s innovative titanium/vanadium processing technology for extracting titanium and vanadium from ilmenite and vanadiferous magnetite ores, which are abundant in India and Australia.

Titanium and vanadium are classified as critical minerals in both countries. Titanium is widely used in metal alloys, while vanadium is also a key component in redox flow batteries, which are rechargeable and well-suited for large-scale energy storage.

The collaboration is funded by CSIRO’s India-Australia Critical Minerals Research Partnership, an initiative under the Australian Federal Government’s updated India Economic Strategy (IES) to 2035. This initiative focuses on developing sustainable and resilient supply chains for critical minerals and materials in both nations.

The project will advance the processing of Indian ores, potentially unlocking India's vast titanium deposits—the third-largest in the world—while complementing CSIRO’s ongoing research on Australian deposits.

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